A common feature offered on communication devices is the ability to search through a directory of contacts in order to make a phone call. On a VoIP phone, a keypad is provided for use with the directory application whereby text is entered through the keypad to search through personal contacts. When searching, the directory application receives a first letter of the contact's last name. A list of contacts and corresponding phone numbers are presented on the phone display whose last name starts with the letter entered. The user scrolls through the letters provided on the application by hitting a key on the keypad repeatedly until the desired contact is displayed.
Searching through contacts in a large corporate directory, which in some enterprises number in the tens of thousands of entries, is very time consuming. With the advent of touch displays on some higher end VoIP phones, a QWERTY style touch keyboard has been offered to provide text whereby the text is used to search through the corporate directory. This improvement provides an easier process for entering text, which encourages entering more text resulting in a shorter list returned from the search.
While a touch keyboard is an improvement for searching, using the keyboard to enter text still provides a number of challenges. For example, touch keyboards are cumbersome as they lack a tactile feel when typing. In addition, the touch keyboards are often quite small, which result in the user accidentally hitting the wrong key. These deficiencies slow the process of entering text to narrow the directory search.
A quick directory search system on a touch display device and methods thereof allowing a user to narrow a search without having to type text on a touch display keyboard or phone keypad is needed. These, as well as other related advantages and features will be described in the present disclosure.